


Loner

by Hayato (TheLennyBunny)



Category: Kingsman (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Complete, Gen, Supernatural Elements
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-22
Updated: 2019-01-22
Packaged: 2019-10-14 07:39:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,545
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17504417
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheLennyBunny/pseuds/Hayato
Summary: He's alone at Kingsman, but he'll manage. For his own, he will.





	Loner

Eggsy smells deceit on almost each and every one of them, and it makes his hackles raise and claws dig into his palms. He’s constantly covering them in bandages and claiming clumsiness, despite the still hand on the range and deftness in combat.

No one has yet to even comment on it. He wonders at the intelligence of humans.

* * *

“Are th’ Kingsman Men?” Eggsy asks, and Harry fucking Hart doesn’t get the turn of phrase, doesn’t hear the capital that’s been there since Eggsy was a kit and just getting the hang of speech. He goes on about how women were integrated in the sixties after proving themselves in World War II, sounding unintentionally sexist until he starts mooning about an agent who took off three heads in a minute. Eggsy lets the man prattle on, because he has his answer in those short few minutes.

He’s alone here. No pack, no one openly like him, and that’s a curse and a blessing at the same time.

* * *

He went with Hart because, well. He had no other option.

His pack- the true pack, not the remnants of what was, the ones who followed behind or sneered whenever he was near the Estate- they were small. Dear to him, and he couldn’t watch them suffer longer. He needed to be stronger or else he wouldn’t be able to protect Daisy, help Jamal, save his mum. He needed money to get them out of there.

So he goes. 

* * *

“Eggsy, can I- that is-”

“If it’s rude, go a’ead and say it, Roxy. ‘M not gonna mind.” He eyes her as she stumbles over herself both metaphorically and literally, slipping out of his grip and almost to the floor.

“You’re obviously skilled, and you seem like you’re on part with us, but- you’re-?”

“A chav.” He chuffs, grinning at her. She flushes and doesn’t notice the points to his teeth. They never do. “‘S what happened. M’family was all tied in the estate so I stayed, yeah? Couldn’ abandon them.” And it’s the truth, because what’s left of the pack lives in the Estates. They have nowhere else to go.

She flips him and he lets the breath woosh out of him like it winded him, lets her mount and pin as he pants. It’s easy to fake with humans, so used to their bodies controlling them. 

* * *

Harry is… Not an Alpha, for all that Eggsy respects him and tends to follow him around like a kit. He’s a loner more like, used to ruling only himself and letting others run as they please until they cross him. King isn’t an Alpha either, smelling of toxicity and deceit and contempt. Eggsy barely holds back from sneering at him when they meet and has to fight the urge to bare his fangs. It’s a different people, different culture, and he needs to remember that.

He barely does.

* * *

Cracking Harry’s password is actually stupidly easy, much as the others say it’s impossible. Eggsy spends his time in front of the laptop connected to his glasses, tapping his fingers in a staccato beat. Most people are easy, simple, and he doubts Harry is any different. So he enters _ Manners Maketh Man  _ first, because he’s heard it about ten times. Merlin snorts and says they’ve already tried that.

Eggsy hums. No doubt they’ve tried special dates, names, all sorts of things the man may have some attachment to. But it’s doubtful that he keeps the same password for long. He tries to think of things that may be recent in the agent’s life, and then he feels a bit stupid.

He types in  _ Come Along, Eggsy _ , and Merlin twitches when the screen brightens and the type changes to  _ Welcome, Eggsy. _

“Bloody- what did you type?”

“That’s crossing his trust a bit more than we prolly should , innit?” He absentmindedly says, and he accesses the glasses’ video feed before the man can get too mad. They watch the video of Galahad attacking the professor and both grimace.

Lovely.

* * *

He changes once, in the cover of darkness and with guns no doubt trained on his area, looking to claim the points and win the exercise. He does it because Hesketh is a fucking berk, and he needs to risk it to escape the literal harm the boy seems to wish on him.

The brush drags at his coat as he trots through quickly, march march marching until he abruptly shifts, jogging up just in time to make Roxy scream. He tags her with an apologetic grin  and takes her spot on the crest of the cliff, guarding until Digby eventually takes him out, laughing like an ass the whole time. He tags him in retaliation, and Merlin says it counts even if Eggsy doesn’t get points for it, because, “You never know when an enemy may get a dying shot.”

Prick deserves it.

* * *

When the full moon comes out he doesn’t do something so stupid as to run out to the track and howl or transform in the barracks or something like that. He’s quiet those days, contemplative, and if the other recruits stay away from him that’s their senses pinging them into the danger for once. When they’re asleep and the cameras are less focused, most but Merlin in bed or on mission, he sits up. And he meditates.

There’s hundreds in the mansion and they all smell, breathe, move, and he focuses on those nearest as he moves further and further, stretching until all his senses are taught. Lee had taught this to him as a child, to let him focus and practice. He does it every month and eventually, every night as he sits next to Harry’s bed, pretending to read his texts. 

He smells anger and grief off Harry, despite the fact he’s deep in his own mind. He smells something else, something toxic. 

He smells it off some the other Kingsmen, too.

* * *

“Merlin, wha’s done if there’s a traitor?”

“Public execution.” Eggsy stares blankly at the quartermaster, who rolls his eyes. “What the hell do you think, boy? We investigate and make sure it’s not mental illness gone dangerous or outside controls and then apprehend. If the evidence is solid, their minds are wiped of secrets and they’re locked up.”

Huh. He hadn’t known humans could do that. Also a bit fucked up but Eggsy also ran drugs for seven years, so what does he know-

“Unwin? Why are you asking?”

Eggsy jerks to attention but strangely, bafflingly, there’s no suspicion coming off Merlin. Oh, worry most certainly, and some irritation and confusion, but none of the immediate thoughts that  _ Ah, it’s the boy, isn’t it? _

Sometimes he’s thankful for his nose. It means he’s not limited to expressions like humans. Eggsy clears his throat and scrambles for thought, some way to explain this without looking fucking weird. Eventually he shrugs and rubs his neck, tilting it just so as he glances over. Merlin remembers the video.

His eyes go cold, and he looks around the office. There’s a door in the corner and he pulls Eggsy through it, sitting him down in a small chair surrounded by monitors. 

“Explain.”

* * *

Merlin sits for a long time as he contemplates what Eggsy’s told him, the little he could filter into passably human. His face is grave at the idea of King and the berk in training both having the chip, graver at the hints of others being involved. The blond watches as he paces, muttering all the while.

“...Not even through with the fucking trials and this is happening and God knows when Harry’s waking up…” The quartermaster purses his lips and turns to Eggsy sharply. “Unwin, we can’t alert anyone else to this. There’s no telling who’s a traitor.”

“So what do we do? Sit ‘n wait for one of ‘em to figure us out?”

“ _ What else are we going to do? _ ” Merlin shakes his head, rubbing his face. “I’m sorry, Eggsy; it’s excellent that you picked up on this. But I’m afraid we’ll have to simply lie in wait until the opportunity rises to attack.”

He leaves the man’s office dissatisfied, itching with the need to do something. He jogs four miles round the track until he’s sweating through his suit. It helps, some.

* * *

Tension grows and grows around the base. Sometimes Eggsy looks at the traitors and wonders why they don’t just trigger the chips and be done with it, let them explode and the survivors settle what’s left.

Hesketh is taken out early, a faulty chute meaning he spends the exercise screaming and trying to get the rest of the scum to ferry him to the K. Unfortunately for him, they’re scavengers, willing to do what it takes to make it. Unfortunately for them, Roxy has a heart and lets him clutch to her as Eggsy waits and waits and waits for the ground to grow closer.

He deploys his chute and watches Hesketh finally let go, landing outside the K. Roxy, Digby and he land inside if not neatly or safely, and Merlin barks at the others to hurry and gather their things.

Harry’s still not up. He wonders if the man will be there when he passes or fails.

* * *

He wants to see his sister, his mum, Jamal or the rest of the pub,  _ his territory _ , but he can’t, isolated with these absolute berks who’ve no concept of anything but their fucking silver suppositories, and it seems like every other day Merlin is barking at him for being too rough during spars.

He curls up with J.B. and pretends the little idiot is his kit sometimes to make himself feel better, not so alone. It’s not exactly wrong since the pug isn’t able to take care of himself, but, well. Conflicting species.

The pug likes to lick him on the nose until he snorts and nudges him away. Bless J.B. 

* * *

“Eggsy, is that- that’s cooked, isn’t it?”

Eggsy glances at Roxy, pausing in the systematic destruction of a steak he’d been doing. He glances down at his plate, which is admittedly covered in blood. He looks back up at her and shrugs.

“Cook said it was.”

Roxy grabs a salad for dinner instead of the cut she’d been eyeing. He ignores her and pops a slice into his mouth. Rare, just as he liked.

* * *

Eggsy doesn’t want to wait anymore. Their second-to-last test is tomorrow night and he’s vibrating out of his skin after meeting Chester King alone, smiling through all sorts of insinuations and contempt and disgust and the man  _ reeked _ , smelt like a fetid landfill for all the pomp and prestige he tried to present. He goes down to Harry’s room once more and murmurs to him, too low for the surveillance to pick up and a language they’d never understand.

Eggsy breathes in and smells shaving cream, old blood and anger, regret, pride and worry. He opens his eyes from where they’ve somehow closed and blinks at the brown looking back at him.

“Dear boy,” A rusty voice croaks, “Why do you ‘ave fangs?”

Eggsy grins through springing tears, and by the way Harry squints harder he knows it must not help. Then he slams the nurse button and listens to the doctor screech when she sees Harry awake.

* * *

“So, ‘ow much’re you bein’ paid to be here, love?” The girl smiles politely as Eggsy eyes her up and down, ignoring Roxy’s hissing and Digby’s snort. The berk’s only tried shit pick-up lines the whole night and Roxy’s been too coy, and neither can smell the stink of Kingsman that the girl’s giving off. He sips at his drink, knowing full-well it’s laced with something. He glances at his flute and cocks his head. “‘N what did you all put in this? Don’t taste like rohypnol.”

The girl blinks and smiles sweetly at him, which is a crock of shit when the other two are starting to get loud as they stumble and try to pull away, collapsing on the couch. Eggsy glances at them and back to her, smiling back. She baulks.

“Got a bit of a resistance to the stuff, sorry ‘bout that. What were you plannin’ to do?”

They knock him out with chloroform instead, because they’re assholes and want to go through with whatever their real test is very much. Eggsy wakes up as they’re tying him to train tracks and watches the agent- who smells like the one that hangs around Roxy- fasten his arms, checking the knots. The man doesn’t notice him close his eyes right as he leans up, and Eggsy counts the seconds until they start murmuring about it wearing off soon to fake stirring.

They try to trick him into revealing information about Kingsman. He laughs his head off and asks if they know where to get decent coffee in Turkish.

He passes.

* * *

“Merlin’s filled me in,” Harry rasps as he sits on his couch, looking all his years. Eggsy leans against the small bar he has and watches the man, deft still despite the months. “He thinks he’s figured out the traitors- not many. No one’s like Arthur for a long time, if I’m being honest. He’s gotten too…”

“Arrogant,” Eggsy supplies, and Harry nods with a sigh. He rubs his nose under his glasses, the real ones with prescription lenses.

“I don’t know what we’re going to do. We can’t exactly take them out without alerting them to the situation, and we can’t get close without alerting them. Not to mention we’re still behind on figuring out where Valentine is, even with Percival taking over my case.”

Eggsy hums, looking down at his hand. He still has the suit on, almost a second skin at this point. Smoke curls from his nails as he looks, wispy. 

“I could take care of it.”

“You-?” Harry stares at him. “Dear boy, are you ill? You’re a new recruit with barely any experience, going up against agents with decades of kills under their belt. How would you take them down?”

Eggsy cocks his head and smiles. The smoke builds and Harry finally notices it, watches as it builds and expands and there’s the sound of silk shifting against each other and he can feel the shift of his skin and limbs, ears going up and tailbone out until he pads up to Harry, sitting primly in front of him. His bush of a tail folds over his paws, orange and white against black.

The man stares blankly at him as he turns back, sitting cross-legged. He waits.

“...Fox-?”

“My da ‘id a lot from you, ‘arry.” He grins, fangs bared and lifts a hand, tips turned to talons. “Would y’like to know how many people expect a bloke to go at them with knives for fingers?

“Now. Would you like me to take care of it?”

Harry calls Merlin. Merlin arrives in half an hour and stares for half a millisecond longer than Harry before he asks what they need to do. Eggsy tells him to just make sure the vents are open, and their jobs are done.

Before he leaves, the quartermaster mutters morbidly that this can replace the dog test. Fuck if Eggsy wants to know what  _ that  _ is.

**Author's Note:**

> come yell>> thelennystorm.tumblr.com  
> come look >> https://twitter.com/VulpinePrints


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